PLACE NAMES IN EASTERN ASIA
T HE breaking out of the war between
Russia and Japan is bringing trouble
to every household in the land, for
the place names of Korea and Man
churia are spelled differently by different news
papers and on different maps. These names
in the native tongue are written in characters
different from those which we employ, and
have been transliterated into roman characters
by different persons in different ways; hence
the widely varying forms which are seen. It
is not generally known that a system of trans
literation of such names has been adopted by
most European nations, by Canada, and by
this country-a system which is simple, easy of
application, and which, if generally followed,
reduces these variations of spelling to a mini
mum. This plan is published in the report of
the U. S . Board on Geographic Names, and is
here republished for ready reference.
RULES FOR TRANSLITERATION
a has the sound of a in father.
ehasthesoundofeinmen.
ihasthesoundofiinravine orof eeinbeet.
o has the sound of o in mote.
u has the sound of oo in boot.
ai has the sound of i in ice.
au has the sound of ow in how.
ao is slightly different from above.
ei has the sound of the two Italian vowels,
but is frequently slurred over, when it is
scarcely distinguishable from ey in the En
glish they.
c is always soft and has nearly the sound of
s. Hard cis given byk.
ch is always soft, as in church.
fas in English; ph should not be used for
this sound.
g is always hard. (Soft g is given byj.)
h is always pronounced when inserted.
j as in English; dj should never be put in
for this sound.
k as in English; it should always be used
for hard c.
kh has the sound of the oriental guttural.
gh is another guttural, as in the Turkish.
ngzhas two slightly different sounds, as in
finger, singer.
q should never be employed; qu is given
by kw.
y is always a consonant, as in yard, and
should not be used for the vowel i.
The U. S. Board on Geographic Names has
passed upon only a few of these names of east
ern Asia. Among them are Amur, Chemulpo,
Korea, Seoul, Manchuria, and Tokyo. Of the
names already in common use in connection
with the seat of war, the following forms
should be employed in accordance with the
rules above quoted: Mukden, Yalu, Sungari,
Chefu, and Fusan.
H. G.
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